Planting seeds of hope throughout our world through sharing photography and thoughts on teaching, cooking, and life transitions.

Tag Archives: trees of transition

California contains distinct colors — such as its golden hills — and smells — such as the earthy smell that reaches me when I get off the plane. Last July I snapped these photos in Napa, and I’m so thankful that these hills did not burn in the fires that they had recently.

The inspiration for this poem/song came from seeing a couple walk away arm-in-arm under a colorful umbrella from the living hall I was watching over in 2008 as a conference services assistant. I wished I could have a guy to walk under an umbrella with, but I chose to be content for then–and these words came out. I had to wait five more years until my guy came…

Under Your Umbrella

Don’t give up hope, Dear,

your time will come.

It’s not your turn yet.

Enjoy these days,

of walking your own pace,

under your umbrella,

to where you want to go.

The days will come when

you will walk in step with a dreamer,

a wise man,

a lover.

Trust it’s coming.

Prepare the way.

Enjoy your own pace

and umbrella right now.

~Mary Hope

If you are waiting for a spouse, don’t give up hope. I had to wait a long time, but he is so worth the wait!

Copyright 2017

P.S. Thank you for stopping by! I insert affiliate links, such as Amazon, into my posts to share interesting books and products. If you buy something or start a registry, I receive income, for which I am thankful. So…

We bought a basil plant last week, and I harvested almost two cups of leaves this week to add to my homemade pesto! Nurturing this plant is making me so happy–I can't wait until the leaves grow full again and I can make more pesto.

This pesto recipe is for people on a budget, so if you don’t have pine nuts, walnuts will work as well. (You also could substitute pecans, if desired). Feel free to adjust nuts and oils to what you have at home, but this much pesto coated enough pasta for about 6-8 people.

Soon after discovering I was pregnant, Stephen and I agreed that we would like to find out the gender of our baby. Our reasoning was, “Why not?! We would like to know in order to get ready, call him or her by name before he or she is born, and we are curious!”

We waited until our 20-week ultrasound in the middle of June, which was the day we started our big road trip. Since we didn’t have time to throw a big party a day or two later, we wanted to find out if our baby was a boy or girl at the doctor’s office and then tell people ourselves through cakes and signs.

Hope seems to be the theme for 2017–I’ve heard two sermons already, it the encouraging words spoken have been timely. Hope is having an expectation of good things ahead. Having hope is a choice that I am choosing for 2017. Join me!

Like this:

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Why is 2016 my favorite year when some people are moaning about how bad it was? Well, if you had to wait 34 years before getting married, wouldn’t you agree that the year you finally married your best friend is the best one so far? And if you had been trying to get your career started, but kept getting mediocre jobs until this year–wouldn’t this year be a great one?

My favorite events in 2016 include:
Marrying my Stephen on June 18th, traveling to Hawaii and then having a second reception in Napa, California. Having so many supportive family and friends around us has jump-started our marriage.
Changing my name to Mary Schuh, and getting a full-time teaching job helping junior high students learn to write has been exciting, exhausting, and satisfying. (Having students call me “Mrs. Schuh” multiple times a day helped me learn my new name!)
Finding out that my sister is having a baby girl in February, makes me grin!
Watching the curse over the Cubs be broken made me cry, and my Grandma Winnie would have been so happy that the Cubs won the World Series.
Moving out of my postage stamp studio apartment into a wonderful home provided my husband has been satisfying. We love sitting by the fireplace, and this year is the first time Stephen had a Christmas tree in that house.
2016 had been the year where it feels like I’m getting on with my life, developing my skills deeper than I thought I would, and becoming more intricately connected with wonderful folks.
There is so much hope on the horizon for 2017 — choose to enter in and make the best of what God gives us.
Happy New Year!
-Mary Hope
Copyright 2016

Crafting pie crust scares some people, and I can see why: If it fails, you have a crumbly mess on your hands. I’ve only made lard pie crust a couple of times, and the other dozens of times, I’ve used an easy, almost fail-safe recipe from my Grandma Jane.

Grandma Jane would make mincemeat pies and tarts (Bambury tarts) at Christmas time. She taught my Mom how to make this recipe, and my Mom taught me. Someday I hope to teach my future daughter how to make this recipe. For now, I can teach you!